


The Last of R.A.B.

by HeavensCrack



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom
Genre: Brothers, Death, Regulus, Sirius - Freeform, life - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-13
Updated: 2018-08-13
Packaged: 2019-06-26 18:31:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15668856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavensCrack/pseuds/HeavensCrack
Summary: The last hour of Regulus Black’s life.





	The Last of R.A.B.

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: this does talk of abuse.   
> I tried to keep this as close to canon as I could, this shows what I think Regulus Black would’ve experienced in his last hour, and it is told through flashbacks in present-tense, and current time in past-tense.

Regulus had been struggling with the morality of the Death-Eaters for a little while now. When he was a child, he admired them. At sixteen, he leaped at the chance to join, with the approval of his parents. That was two years ago. Two years since his brother completely stopped talking to him. Two years of seeing very questionable things, things that made him wonder if he was doing the right thing. He had his doubts about the Death-Eaters, but he was never going to act upon until a week ago, when Kreacher had returned to the manor half-dead after a mission with the Dark Lord. In that time, Regulus recalled all of the horrible things that had happened over his time following him. He had been blind before, but his eyes were open now. 

It only took two days to make his decision. Regulus would leave. Quit. Finished. He knew that he would be hunted down and killed for it… unless he killed the Dark Lord first. He knew what Kreacher’s mission was, he asked him all about it… horcrux. If he could make a fake to replace it and destroy it, the Dark Lord would never know the difference. 

The locket dangled from his fingertips. An exact replica of the one that lay in the basin. He had finally finished it this morning, and today was the day he would do it. Today he would end the suffering caused by that evil man, if he could even still be considered a man. His parents wouldn’t understand, they’d probably blast him off the family tree as they did Sirius, but Sirius… he would forgive Regulus and keep him safe. He knew he was doing the right thing. 

“Master Regulus, you cannot do this,” Kreacher whimpered. “It’s not good, Kreacher nearly died…” 

Regulus knelt down in front of the little elf, smiling kindly at him. He took the elf’s tiny hands in his own. “I have to, Kreacher. I have to stop him. Listen, once this potion is gone, you have to swap out the lockets. Take the real one far away from here and find a way to destroy it. Save yourself, and leave me behind. The locket is the most important thing. That is an order, do you understand?” He handed the elf the locket. 

Miserably, the elf nodded. Regulus stood up, taking a deep breath. “Bottoms up, I suppose!” Walking to the basin, he conjured up a cup. He dipped the cup in the glowing green potion, shuddering a bit at the cold liquid touching his hand. Before he could lose his courage, he downed the cup. Immediately he started coughing. It burned going down, and continued burning his stomach. Regulus doubled over, suddenly racked with pain. Through the tears streaming down his face, he saw Kreacher hurry to him. “Get back, don’t worry about me. Just remember your orders,” Regulus choked. Kreacher slid back. 

Regulus grabbed the edge of the basin and pulled himself up, scooping up another goblet-full of the potion. He threw it back, just as quickly as he did the last one. 

Regulus is five. He‘s playing on the floor with his big brother Sirius. Sirius brought out an old set of chess, still very polished. The game is almost over, and Regulus has more pieces than Sirius. He doesn’t care, he thinks this is good fun. He loves playing with bubba! Regulus furrows his brow, looking at the pieces. If he moves his knight a couple spaces left and then up as it is telling him, then he’s at Sirius’ king. He decides to listen to the piece and moves his piece, and he wins the game! He looks at his brother, smiling, expecting Sirius to laugh, but instead his brother’s face crosses with rage and he throws the board at the wall, crossing his arms. 

“Sirius Orion!” His father’s voice shouts. Footsteps fall, Regulus looks up from where he is sitting and his father walks into the room, crossing directly to Sirius. Sirius looks up, his eyes shining with defiance and he looks a little scared. A big hand lashes out.

Regulus screamed. “Stop! Don’t hurt him!” He was sobbing. He choked down another goblet of potion. 

Regulus is 9. He’s still sad, it’s odd now that Sirius is gone. He’s lost his best friend in the whole world. He’ll still get letters from Sirius, he promised to write, but it won’t be the same. Regulus can’t wait until he can go to Hogwarts and be back with him! They’ll be Slytherin together, so they’ll definitely be together all the time! 

A letter arrives, carried by a large barn owl. Regulus runs to the owl, snatching the letter from the bird’s leg. He eagerly starts reading the letter before his mother plucks it out of his hand. His heart drops and breaks as he sees the last word before his mother grabbed it… Gryffindor. Sirius is… Gryffindor? Regulus stands there, completely numb as he listens to his mother screaming into the Howler she will no doubt send. Disappointment, disgrace, couldn’t be more like your brother… 

“Stop yelling, Mother. It’s not his fault, it’s not his fault,” Regulus pleaded, his insides burning. Why couldn’t she see? He suddenly felt very thirsty. Seeing the cup beside a glowing pool, he dipped the cup in and drank deeply. 

He’s 14. Sirius is home, they both are. It’s summer break. They are having a conversation over dinner, the table tense as always. Mother keeps talking about blood-traitors and how they should be removed from the wizarding community, live with the Muggles they love so much. Regulus can see how much Sirius is struggling. He wishes Mother would stop talking, but he knows that’s unlikely to happen. 

Finally, Sirius snaps. They’re both shouting back and forth at each other, Mother and Sirius’ raised voices enough to rattle the portraits. He just wants them to stop, why can’t they stop arguing? A door slams. Regulus runs up the stairs, knocking on Sirius’ door. 

“Hey,” he says, opening the door. Sirius is furiously throwing clothes in his trunk. “What are you doing? School’s not for another couple months, break just started last week,” Regulus says. He sees the tears shining on his older brother’s face, and immediately feels himself choking up. 

“I’m not coming back,” Sirius says quietly. 

Regulus is confused. He can’t grasp what he’s saying, what does he mean, not coming back? “You have to,” Regulus says. 

“I can’t take it anymore! I can’t live here.” 

“Yes you can, Mother will calm down…” 

“No, she won’t. I get that it’s easy for you here, but I’m not you, Regulus! You know what they say about me, you may be the only one who hears it more than me. I’m worthless. I’m not the heir they wanted, I’m a disgrace because I don’t hate Muggles. I’m a disappointment, a filthy Gryffindor blood-traitor. They’ll never love me, and I can’t deal with that anymore. I can’t,” Sirius says, lifting his long hair from his face. With a shock, Regulus sees a bright, perfectly circular burn mark near his brother’s eye. He nearly starts crying. 

“Sirius, you can’t leave me,” he says, grabbing his brother’s hand, his voice thick. 

“You’ll be fine, they love you,” Sirius says with a slight smile. “They take care of you. But I have to take care of-“ Sirius suddenly stops, staring down at Regulus’ arm. “What the fuck is that?” Regulus snatches his arm back. 

“It’s nothing-“ 

“Regulus, I swear to Merlin, you better remove that fucking thing right now,” Sirius says, staring at the inked drawing. A skull with a snake, the Dark Mark. Regulus sketched it on his arm earlier, dreaming of the day he could officially get it done. 

“No,” he says.

“Regulus…” Sirius sighs. “I can’t do this. You’re just like them, I honestly thought you were better than them.” He continued throwing things into his trunk, ignoring Regulus completely. Regulus, tears in his eyes, dashed out of the room. 

Regulus was so thirsty. His tongue was a desert. He was so weak, he needed fluids… he looked at the basin, and found with astonishment that it was bone-dry. He slowly turned, seeing the lake. He went to take a step and pitched forward, landing on his face. He couldn’t even groan. He needed water… all that was on his mind. Water. He stretched out an arm, grabbing the dirt and pulling himself forward with all his strength. He stretched out his other arm. Slowly, he pulled himself towards the expanse of water, seemingly kilometres away. He collapsed on the edge of the water, exhaustion and pain forgotten as he scooped up mouthfuls of water, eagerly gulping down as much as he could. He felt something tugging on his arm, and looked over in annoyance. He was trying to drink… he sputtered as he saw what was holding him. A skeletal hand was wrapped firmly around his arm. More hands rose up and gripped him where he lay, insistently tugging on all his parts. He wanted to swat them away, but there were too many, and he couldn’t quite move his arm… the tugs became painful. Stop, he wanted to say. But they wouldn’t stop. The water splashed around him as he stared at the water turning red around him. Gaping holes were torn into his skin where the bony fingertips dug in. He couldn’t feel anything but fire, raging through his insides and working its way to his limbs. He could almost see the fire that consumed his body… no, he couldn’t. Though he could see something, watching in detached exhaustion as he saw chunks of himself being thrown into the water, the ripples reaching him crimson. He felt something grab his cheek, and felt a wet tear. His head went underwater and he could see no more.


End file.
